Beresellaceae is an extinct family of organisms of uncertain affinity, sometimes placed within the Metazoa (multicellular animals),[2] but tentatively assigned to the green alga order Dasycladales.[3][4] Beresellids were cosmopolitan and their fossils are found in strata ranging in age from the late Devonian to the early Permian.[1]
| Beresellaceae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Clade: | Viridiplantae |
| Division: | Chlorophyta |
| Class: | UTC clade |
| Order: | Dasycladales (?) |
| Family: | †Beresellaceae Deloffre, 1988 |
| Genera[1] | |
Members of the family took the form of calcareous cylindrical tubes 100 to 400 micrometers (0.0039 to 0.0157 in) in diameter and up to 5 millimeters (0.20 in) in length. The tubes are single or (rarely) paired with an axial canal that is often replaced with clear calcite during fossilization. Classification is based on the distinctive two-layer walls[4] and verticils (blind pores) branching outward from the cylindrical body. The organism likely was surrounded by a mucilaginous coating, preserved in fossils as transparent calcite cement.[1] As of 1998[update], no reproductive structures have been found for members of this group.[5]
Beresellids became important marine carbonate sediment producers in the middle Carboniferous, in association with various phylloid algae. They are thought to have favored shallow, sheltered lagoons.[1][6] Local accumulations were sometimes extensive enough to be distinguished as beresellid bafflestone or packstone, making this a rock-forming family of algae.[7]
References
edit
- ^ a b c d Choh, Suk-Joo; Kirkland, Brenda L. (1 September 2008). "Sedimentologic role ofin situ Beresellid algal colonies, Holder Formation (Upper Pennsylvanian), New Mexico, U.S.A.". Carbonates and Evaporites. 23 (2): 79–88. doi:10.1007/BF03176154. S2CID 128972150.
- ^ Brenckle, Paul L. (1985). "Cribrokamaena and Crassikamaena, New Genera of Late Paleozoic Algae from the United States". Micropaleontology. 31 (1): 55–67. Bibcode:1985MiPal..31...55B. doi:10.2307/1485580. JSTOR 1485580.
- ^ Elliott, G. F. (1991). "Dasycladalean Algae of the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic". Calcareous Algae and Stromatolites: 125–130. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-52335-9_7. ISBN 978-3-642-52337-3.
- ^ a b Kenrick, Paul; Li, Cheng-Sen (April 1998). "An early, non-calcified, dasycladalean alga from the Lower Devonian of Yunnan Province, China". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 100 (1–2): 73–88. Bibcode:1998RPaPa.100...73K. doi:10.1016/S0034-6667(97)00050-X.
- ^ Kenrick & Li 1998, p. 85.
- ^ Corrochano, Diego; Barba, Pedro; Colmenero, Juan R. (March 2012). "Glacioeustatic cyclicity of a Pennsylvanian carbonate platform in a foreland basin setting: An example from the Bachende Formation of the Cantabrian Zone (NW Spain)". Sedimentary Geology. 245–246: 76–93. Bibcode:2012SedG..245...76C. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2011.12.009.
- ^ Bahamonde, Juan R.; Della Porta, Giovanna; Merino-Tomé, Oscar A. (April 2017). "Lateral variability of shallow-water facies and high-frequency cycles in foreland basin carbonate platforms (Pennsylvanian, NW Spain)". Facies. 63 (2): 6. doi:10.1007/s10347-016-0487-3. S2CID 131889753.
 | This Ulvophyceae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |